Yu stopped before a large tree with a thick trunk and placed his hand against its rough bark.
[Oak Tree]
[Gatherable Resources]
[Wood—Yields 1–3 standard Wooden Planks.
Base drop rate: 100%.]
[Bark—Drop rate: 10%.]
[Vine—Drop rate: 10%.]
[Apple—Drop rate: 5%.]
[Resin—Drop rate: 1%.]
[Acorn—Drop rate: 0.5%.]
“Oh?
It can even drop food?”
Yu’s gaze lingered on the apple’s five-percent drop rate.
He raised his axe, aimed at the trunk, and swung with all his strength.
Thunk!
The dull impact echoed through the forest as the axe blade buried itself deep in the wood.
At the same time, a translucent white Progress Bar appeared beside the Oak Tree.
His first strike moved it forward by only a small amount.
“So these eyes can even display progress.”
Understanding the mechanism, Yu began chopping one strike after another.
It was far from easy work.
Even with the Logging Axe’s bonus, continuously swinging a heavy axe and striking the same spot was exhausting for an ordinary city youth with only nine points of Strength.
The axe’s recoil soon numbed the space between his thumb and forefinger.
A dull ache spread through his arms, waist, and back.
It took nearly half an hour of strenuous chopping before the white Progress Bar finally reached its end.
Creeeak—
The towering Oak Tree slowly tilted before crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom, throwing dust into the air.
A faint light flashed near its roots, and three items materialized out of thin air.
[Wooden Plank (Common) ×2]
[Apple (Common) ×1]
They were all Common items, so their labels contained no noteworthy information.
“Phew…
That was exhausting.”
Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead and picked up the Wooden Planks and apple.
He turned toward Marin, who had followed him into the forest.
The gyaru was sitting on a relatively clean rock nearby, resting her chin in both hands as she watched him work.
Her own axe lay carelessly at her feet.
She had clearly tried chopping earlier before deciding to give up.
At that moment, she was staring mournfully at the small chip in the crystal nail on her right index finger.
“Ahhh…
My new manicure…”
When forced to choose between her nails and chopping down trees, her manicure was clearly more important.
Perhaps noticing Yu’s gaze, Marin looked up and prepared to say something.
Grrrrgl…
Her stomach betrayed her first.
“Ah!”
Her face instantly turned bright red.
She covered her stomach with both hands and looked as though she wanted the ground to swallow her.
Yu said nothing.
He weighed the red apple in his hand before flicking his wrist and tossing it toward her.
“Catch.”
“Huh?”
Marin fumbled before finally catching the apple.
She looked up at him in disbelief.
“Y-You’re giving it to me?”
“Yeah.”
Yu answered casually, already turning his attention toward another nearby tree.
He needed more Wood, and his current gathering speed was far too slow.
“Th-Thank you!”
A bright smile blossomed across Marin’s face.
She did not even bother washing the apple before taking a large bite.
Crunch!
Sweet juice burst across her tongue with the distinctive fragrance of fresh apple, greatly easing her hunger and thirst.
“It’s so sweet!
This is delicious!”
Yu ignored the satisfied chewing behind him.
He studied the tree before him while estimating the time and Stamina required.
The previous tree had taken nearly half an hour and consumed a considerable amount of his energy.
At this rate, repairing the entire cabin was out of the question.
Gathering enough Wooden Planks for a single wall would nearly exhaust him, never mind preparing for the tripled Beast Tide in seven days.
Strength…
Constitution…
An idea occurred to Yu, and he summoned the personal status panel that only he could see.
He studied the clear plus and minus buttons beside Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence.
A bold thought entered his mind.
“Since it’s a Cheat Engine…”
With a thought, he began lowering his currently less useful Dexterity and Intelligence values one point at a time.
Every point he removed was transferred directly into Strength, the attribute most closely related to logging and physical labor.
[Dexterity: 11 → 0]
[Intelligence: 11 → 0]
[Strength: 9 → 31]
A strange warmth instantly swept through his limbs.
His arms, shoulders, abdomen, waist, and legs suddenly felt far denser and more powerful.
The Logging Axe in his hands seemed to become much lighter, losing its previous burdensome weight.
Yu took a deep breath, gripped the handle with both hands, and swung at another thick Oak Tree with all his strength.
Whoosh—Crack!
The blade tore through the air with a sharp whistle.
Instead of the previous dull thud, a crisp cracking sound erupted as it smashed into the trunk.
The white Progress Bar beside the tree shot forward by a massive amount.
“This works!”
Yu’s spirits soared.
Without hesitation, he swung again.
The muscles in his arms bulged as the heavy axe traced bright silver arcs through the air, relentlessly hacking into the trunk.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Wood chips flew everywhere as his logging speed increased several times over.
The large tree that had previously required half an hour fell after only eight or nine minutes, crashing to the ground amid a harsh, creaking groan.
A faint light flashed.
[Wooden Plank (Common) ×3]
“Not bad!”
Feeling the power surging through his body, Yu experienced an indescribable rush of satisfaction.
Without stopping to rest, he charged toward the next tree, then the one after that.
The tremendous increase in efficiency brought an equally powerful sense of accomplishment.
Yu felled five large trees in one stretch and collected thirteen Wooden Planks in total.
Unfortunately, none of the trees dropped any other items.
However, just as the sixth tree began to sway, an intense wave of exhaustion suddenly struck him.
Yu’s arms became so weak that he could barely lift them.
His chest heaved violently as he gasped for air, while sweat had long since soaked through his back.
Such intense displays of Strength consumed a terrifying amount of endurance.
Thirty-one points of Strength gave him explosive power, but with only nine points of Constitution, his body clearly could not sustain that output for long.
“Constitution…
Stamina recovery…”
Yu immediately understood the problem and summoned his status panel again.
[Strength: 31 → 0]
[Constitution: 9 → 40]
The instant the values changed, a cool and soothing sensation surged from deep within his body, flowing into his aching muscles and exhausted limbs.
His debilitating exhaustion faded at an astonishing speed.
Within little more than ten seconds, most of his Stamina had recovered.
His overworked muscles still felt slightly sore, but lifting the axe again was no longer a problem.
‘This Cheat Engine is way too convenient!’
Although he could only focus on strengthening one or two areas at a time, freely switching between attributes made it an incredible ability during the early stages of survival.
Somehow, he had turned this world into another overpowered easy-mode game.
Seeing Yu stop chopping, Marin jumped down from the rock.
She approached with the half-eaten apple in her hand and held it out to him.
“H-Here.
Um…
I feel bad for eating your food.
I only ate half, so you can have the rest…
if you don’t mind.”
Yu looked at the remaining half of the apple and nodded.
“Of course I don’t mind.”
How could he possibly object to eating something a beautiful girl had already bitten?
He accepted the apple and finished it in a few quick bites.
The fruit eased his dry throat and hunger.
With the added water and sugar, along with the extraordinary recovery granted by forty points of Constitution, Yu felt refreshed again.
“Let’s go.”
Yu lifted his axe and gestured toward the Wooden Planks scattered across the ground.
“We’ll carry these back first.
We’re still nowhere near having enough Wood to repair the cabin.”
…